A while back I have been contacted by a Swiss journalist asking me if I was available to help her to write an article about Dublin city by the Dubliner for the Sonnetags Zeitung newspaper.So this is the article (I know it is in German!)

This e-mail was sent to me by Petra in the U.K asking me where can, now uncommon grains and seeds such as millet, tapioca and quinoa, can be found:

I've just been reading Food Lorists which I came across while looking for internet shops that would sell the less common cereals, flours etc. There is lots of advice on the Internet on diet and recipes - but where can I actually buy the stuff. I have scoured our local supermarkets, health food stores and farm shops but nothing. I also was unable to locate Internet shops - what should I google for??? I tried lots of variations but only ever got advice and no shopping. I'm looking for things like sago, tapioca, quinoa, lecithin granules, millet, maybe the chestnut flour you mentioned.... In the UK would be prefered. Can you recommend anything?

Thanks, Petra

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First I am surprised that you cannot find grains like tapioca, millet and quinoa in health store in the U.K. Chestnut flour would be more difficult I admit. Sago can usually be found in powder form in African food stores or Chinese food markets.

There are 2 links to web-sites one in the UK, the other one in France whereeverything that you are looking for can be found. At the exception of sago (sorry!):

Last Year I have been contacted by the Foodbuzz team offering me a sponsorship for Food Lorists. I have to say I was a bit sceptical at first. Why me? After a bit of thinking I became a featured publisher on the beta version of Foodbuzz.com. Ever since I enjoy a great partnership with the guys at Foodbuzz all the way on the other side of the globe in Frisco. Yesterday Foodbuzz went live, I wish them all the best in this endeavour.

San Francisco – October 13, 2008:Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world.At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.

“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc.“Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”

Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews.Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions.Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.

“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.

The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month.“The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup. The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.

From matambre to enchilladas: an Agentinine dinner (Buenos Aires Argentina)

A sweet trompe l'oeil (Seattle WA)

“24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs”captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shared it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community.“It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about – real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”

About Foodbuzz, Inc.

Based in San Francisco, Foodbuzz, Inc., launched its beta Web site, foodbuzz.com, in 2007.In less than a year, Fooduzz.com and its community of over 1,000 exclusive partner food blogs have grown into an extended online property that reaches more than three million users.

Since Cooks Academy has opened its doors in 2005, Vanessa and Tim Greenwood have managed to make it the most acclaimed cookery school in Ireland. Now, Vanessa is presenting in her first book, a collection of the most popular recipes from the Academy.

The book offers a wide range of recipes from Vanessa's own creations like her "Howth sandwich" to old classics like "seafood chowder" or "macaroni cheese". Within the 200 pages of her book Vanessa gives you simple recipes for soups, salads, pasta dishes, meat and vegetable courses, baking and desserts.She has made the recipes easy to realise through her step by step approach. Her style is simple and clear and make this cookbook very reliable and easy to use.

What I liked:I like Vanessa's simple and very clear step by step approach to each recipe. It is not another chef's cook book in which chefs bring you his or her recipes in such a way that it is nearly never possible to achieve the dish presented on the picture. The presentation of the book is simple and clear and the illustrations fresh and colourful.

What I disliked:I found that the seafood chapter a bit thin and the inaccuracy of the hollandaise sauce recipe that is to me more a lemon-flavoured beurre blanc recipe.

Now, just a quick word about commercial powdered stocks, bouillon paste and other meat extracts. The father of these mass-produced meat extracts was Justus Von Liebig famous inventor of the theory that searing meat seals in the juices, which is, now, proved to be false. Anyway, back to the powdered stuff, these meats extracts are made by simmering meat scraps and bones in water. Then this stock is clarified and reduced to about 10% of its initial volume. The finished extract is a viscous mixture made of 20% water; 50% amino-acids, peptides, gelatin and other related molecules; 5% salt and 20% minerals. Most of these products are less concentrated and are supplemented with various artificial flavours.Has these mass-produced meat extracts are mainly meat based they need to be improved by briefly cooking them with some vegetables, wine and herbs before using them as part of a sauce.

Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873)

German analytical chemist who collaborated with Wöhler in organic chemistry investigations. They discovered the benzoyl radical (C7H5O) in the 1830s, providing seeming support for Berzelius's radical theory. He measured the composition of silver fulminate to be 77.53% silver oxide and 22.47% cyanic acid, which was the same ratio as Wohler had found for cyanic acid. At first, Liebig thought Wohler was wrong, but he was eventually forced to agree that the compounds had the same chemical formula.

Liebig promoted chemistry as the central science, trying to underscore its direct benefit to mankind in the form of pharmaceuticals. He developed a technique for determining the carbon and hydrogen contained in a sample from the carbon dioxide and water given off when a compound was burned. He also attempted to derive physiological phenomena from physical and chemical laws.

In Agricultural Chemistry (1842), he presented organic chemistry in its application to physiology and pathology. Another of Liebig's major accomplishments was in the field of applied chemistry. Two books, Organic Chemistry an its Application to Agriculture and Physiology, and Organic Chemistry in its Application to Physiology and Pathology, published in 1840 and 1842 respectively, revolutionized food production. Even though some of Liebig's ideas were later proved to be incorrect, he set in motion an application of chemical principles that had a profound effect on the future welfare of mankind. For the first time it was possible to produce enough food stuffs to feed the growing population.

He was influenced by Helmholtz in attempting to demonstrate that body heat and muscular action could be derived from the oxidation of foodstuffs. He also sought to establish an elemental balance between ingesta, excreta, and respiratory gases.

Frank Krawczyk smoked meat productsBased in Dereenatra, Schull West Cork Frank offers some of the finest smoked meat on the Island. From handmade salamis to pancetta and chorizo. Worth the try.Find him at:- Dereenatra, Schull West Cork- frankk@oceanfree.net- Farmer's markets in Cork and Kerry.

Ballyshiel Milk toffeeTommy Corrigan and his Argentinian wife Karina Gaetani have launched this small milk toffee about 7 years ago, following a traditional Argentinian recipe. For me they make a healthy, natural and very different spreads, dessert sauces or ice-cream flavouring.Find them at:- Kilcrutin business park, Tullamore Co Offaly- ballyshiel@eircom.net- 090 645 4776/ 087 270 1472.

The Organic SupermarketThis is a brand new food store that has just opened about a month ago, on main street Blackrock, Co Dublin. To my knowledge, it is the only shop that offers 100% organic products (and fair trade for most of them!), that is not an health store, in Dublin. Good choice of food and wines and the choice is still widening.Find it at:- The Organic Supermarket, 2c Main Street, Blackrock, Co Dublin, open seven days a week.- 01 2781111.- www.organicsupermarket.ie